Sept. 24 Press Release
Confront the Climate Crisis Activists RISE UP and Unveil Upcoming Legislation
—In order to build press coverage and state-wide support for Confront the Climate Crisis’ 2022 legislation, student activists of the campaign wrote a press release. This document officially announced the details of the legislation to the press and resulted in unprecedented coverage, with several newspaper, radio, and TV stories from outlets across the state. The press release reads as follows—
Today, the campaign held a climate strike in West Lafayette and announced two pieces of climate legislation that Republican State Sen. Ron Alting said he will sponsor during the 2022 legislative session.
Rahul Durai, a sophomore at West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School, said at the press conference announcing the legislation: "It's time for the state of Indiana to start a conversation about climate change and systematically implement policies to deal with it. By bringing our grassroots movement of Hoosiers to the statehouse to pass this legislation, we will achieve that." Confront the Climate Crisis is confident that their two pieces of legislation, the bill and concurrent resolution, will be the first step towards addressing these problems in Indiana.
The event on September 24 was twofold. At 12:30 PM, students marched from West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School, stopping on the way to pick up community members at City Hall, to John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge in a climate strike. Once gathered at the bridge, attendees enjoyed live music and food trucks. Activists delivered empowering speeches. Jonathan Siskind, a senior at West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School, outlined the power of young people and their passion, “I’d urge you all to find something you are good at–a skill, a talent, a knack you have for something special–and give it a little spark to turn it into your own unique climate solution.”
At 2:00 PM, a press conference was held to announce the campaign’s plans for the 2022 Indiana legislative session, and the campaign unveiled their monumental climate justice initiatives alongside Senator Ron Alting. Alting pledged to introduce the legislation in 2022, bringing Indiana a step closer to a more sustainable future.
It was announced that Senator Alting will introduce two pieces of climate legislation in Indiana’s 2022 Legislative Session. The first piece of legislation will be a concurrent resolution to acknowledge the problem of unprecedented climate change. It will give scientific background about the climate crisis and other environmental injustices in Indiana. It will also address the economic development that Indiana can achieve through climate action.
Senator Alting’s second piece of legislation will be a bill that would create a Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force by May of 2022. The purpose of this task force would be to bring a diverse set of stakeholders to the table to create a climate action plan for Indiana. This task force would include legislators, researchers, experts in energy policy, an expert in environmental justice issues, a representative of Indiana’s labor unions, a representative of Indiana’s business community, a representative of Indiana’s farmers, and a youth climate activist. The task force would be required to submit a report of climate policy recommendations to the Indiana General Assembly by November of 2022.
Confront the Climate Crisis plans to build a coalition around their legislation leading up to the 2022 legislative session. They will be meeting with leaders of institutions representing the various interests which are impacted by climate change. From labor unions to sports teams to agriculture stakeholders, students will ask these institutions to consider signing on to the campaign’s legislation in order to demonstrate the immense support the legislation has garnered. Combined with over 17,000 signatures on the campaign’s petition for this legislation to be passed, this united front will demonstrate to legislators the extent to which Hoosiers are concerned about climate change and demand climate action.
Confronting the climate crisis is the only way that significant and systemic change can be brought to Indiana. So long as the fact climate change exists continues to be questioned, Indiana will continue to live with its consequences.
Photos from the event will be posted on the campaign website shortly under “Gallery”.
The legislation will be finalized and published soon.
Confront the Climate Crisis is a youth-led statewide campaign with the goal of pressuring Indiana legislators to pass sustainable legislation combating climate change. Get involved at www.confronttheclimatecrisis.com.
Email: confronttheclimatecrisis@gmail.com, Instagram: @confronttheclimatecrisis, Twitter: @ConfrontCrisis